Members

Purchasing Service Credit

Several types of prior service may be purchased and included in your total years of service. Purchasing service credit can increase your retirement benefit* and, in some cases, allow you to retire earlier.

VCERA offers two types of service purchases: prior County/District service and prior public service. For purposes of vesting and retirement eligibility, purchased County/District service counts toward these VCERA milestones, but purchased prior public service does not.

Service credit purchases must be paid in full prior to your retirement date. Click here to download a Service Credit Purchase Request form.

*Purchasing prior service may not increase the pension of a member who is awarded a disability retirement, which is calculated as a percentage of a member’s final average compensation. Depending on various factors, a disability retirement benefit may exceed a service retirement benefit, even with the inclusion of additional service credit due to purchased prior service.

Excluded Service

You may purchase retirement service credit if you previously served in a County or district position that was excluded from VCERA membership and occurred prior to VCERA membership, such as:

  • Extra Help or part-time service prior to January 1, 1992
  • Extra Help or part-time service on/after January 1, 1992, if you did not contribute to the Safe Harbor Plan or if you rolled the Safe Harbor Plan over to the Supplemental 457 Plan*
  • Pre-membership period between June 30, 1979 and July 10, 1999
  • Post-graduate residency program with the County of Ventura

The retirement service purchased will be credited under the same benefit tier that applied to you when you joined VCERA. The cost to purchase “excluded” service will be the amount of contributions you would have paid to VCERA for the length of time being purchased, plus the interest that would have accrued on those contributions since the purchased period.

For purposes of vesting and retirement eligibility, purchased County/District service counts toward these VCERA milestones.

*Terminated members may contact Safe Harbor at (805) 654-2921 to discuss rollovers to the Supplemental 457 Plan. However, active members are not eligible for a rollover.

Medical Leave

You may purchase retirement service credit for unpaid personal medical leaves that occurred during your membership. Documentation is required to purchase more than one calendar year of industrial disability leave or more than 240 hours of Maternity leave. For leaves prior to May 2004, VCERA may contact you to request documentation indicating you were unable to work due to a personal medical condition if leave details are not on file. Intermittent leaves of absence and leaves to care for family members may not be purchased. You must have returned to Active employment following the medical leave in order to purchase the time.

The retirement service purchased will be credited under the same benefit tier that applied to you at the time of your medical leave. The cost to purchase such leaves will be the amount of contributions you would have paid to VCERA for the length of time being purchased, plus the interest that would have accrued on those contributions since the purchased period.

For purposes of vesting and retirement eligibility, purchased County/District service counts toward these VCERA milestones.

Redeposit of Refunded Contributions

You may redeposit retirement contributions that you previously withdrew from an earlier period of membership in VCERA. To restore your forfeited retirement service credit, you must redeposit all previously withdrawn contributions, plus the interest that would have accrued on those contributions had they remained on deposit since your date of withdrawal.

The retirement service purchased will be credited under the same benefit tier that applied to you during your previous period of membership. If you were placed in a different benefit tier upon reentering County or district service, then after your redeposit is complete, all your current service will convert to the same benefit tier that was in effect during the redeposited period of service.

For purposes of vesting and retirement eligibility, redeposited County/District service counts toward these VCERA milestones.

Public Service

You may be eligible to purchase service credit for employment in a public agency that occurred before you entered VCERA membership. “Public agency” is defined as:

  • Any department or agency of the United States government, including active military service
  • Any department or agency of the State of California, including school districts
  • Any city or county within California
  • Any public corporation, municipal corporation or public district situated in whole or in part within Ventura County
  • Any local agency formation commission
  • Any department or agency within the District of Columbia

You may not purchase prior public service with VCERA if you are eligible to receive a retirement benefit for that period of service in another retirement system.

The retirement service purchased will be credited under the same benefit tier that applied to you when you joined VCERA. (Current Safety members who were General members upon joining VCERA may receive Safety credit for the purchase only if the time being purchased consisted of active law enforcement, active fire suppression or active U.S. military service during a time of war or national emergency.)

The cost to purchase prior public service is the sum of twice the contributions you would have paid to VCERA for the length of time being purchased, plus the interest that would have accrued on those contributions since your membership date.

For purposes of vesting and retirement eligibility, purchased prior public service does not count toward these VCERA milestones.